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Advice for Aspiring Writers (Grade K-8)Grace Lin shares her advice for becoming a children’s book author. She believes that authors have to love their own writing before they can expect other to enjoy it, and that if a person wants to become a writer, he or she first has to be a reader.

When a child opens a book and begins a journey of a lifetime, they can travel to faraway places, magical lands and experience adventures. This is all done without the need of an airline ticket or passport. When a child learns to read, they begin to learn that what an author writes can change their view of the world. They learn early in their lives that writing and reading go hand in hand. To be a writer, you must be an avid reader.

With each turning of the page students learn that written words have a sound and meaning. These magical discoveries turn into rough draft diamonds when students begin to write. A student is eager to write their own stories and not be limited by grammar, spelling and rules. They illustrate stories if we are lucky, they will share them with their teachers and parents. As teachers it is our job to teach our students to love to read, write and sneak in those pesky grammar lessons.

As a teacher the best story I ever read was by a student who misspelled every other word and yet the imagery and imagination of the story brought me to tears. The student passionately wrote when I told him to just write. It was not an assignment but just something he wrote over the weekend and he wanted to share with me. We fixed the spelling mistakes and submitted it to a writing contest. He did not win but he did learn to use a dictionary to help with his spelling.It is no surprise to me that National Book Month and the National Day of Writing both fall in the month of October. My wish for each student is that they fall in love with one or more authors and that these authors aspire to write. Three authors have influenced my life, Chris Van Allsburg, Roald Dahl and Jane Austen. Who are your favorite authors that inspire you? Share them with your students.

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Whether you are a classroom or homeschool teacher, a preschool caregiver or parent, or even just a friend of a child, KLRN Education is here to provide resources and tips to help all of our kids get ready to learn and grow.